IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys’ decision to insert Eric Frampton into the starting lineup at strong safety Sunday against New Orleans had more to do with over-exposure for Danny McCray.

McCray started 10 games this season and had been the team’s second-leading tackler, but he started to wear down as the year has gone one.

It was the first start of Frampton’s career, and he was credited with two tackles. Frampton had been playing on some sub packages on defense, but the return of Charlie Peprah from a foot injury after a three-week absence allowed Frampton to play in the base defense.

“Danny’s been playing so many snaps on defense, on special teams and battling through injury after injury all year long,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We just felt like it was best for him when we got these other guys back to give them more of an opportunity on defense and all the different personnel packages and let Danny kind of play a little more special teams, spot play on defense a little bit and then kind of get himself back in the role he’s most accustomed to playing. So we feel like we had these other guys who we felt were capable of helping in that way and felt that was the best thing for us this week.”